“They’re loaded,” St. Joseph coach Joe Della Vecchia said of a Ram team with four Division I commits. “I told the guys before the game that they’re the same kids we played against last year. You could have four Division I guys, but we’re going to come as a team and have 60 guys together and that was the difference; our guys hung together the entire time.”

After missing a field goal on its first possession and squandering good field position for the entire first quarter, the Hogs finally broke through early in the second.

A Cole DaSilva interception set up the Hogs at midfield and St. Joseph took advantage of a New Canaan unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and a defensive pass interference that negated an interception leading to Jaden Shirden (31 carries, 108 yards, two touchdowns) scoring from two yards out.

Two possessions later, the Hogs rode Shirden four-straight plays, loosening up the defense to allow David Summers (11-29, 184 yards, one touchdown, three interceptions) to hit Will Diamantis with a 40-yard strike.

“It just felt like we were too emotionally charged, so we tried to calm things down a little bit and see what Jaden could do,” Della Vecchia said. “Just try to keep them off-balance and see if they could run the ball…if you give him the ball, he’s going to make some positive things happen.”

St. Joseph went in to the half with a 14-0 lead, but neither team was especially excited about their performance, as they combined for six turnovers in the first two quarters.

“We have all year to get ready for a game like this and to play like that, there’s definitely something wrong and I don’t blame our kids for that,” New Canaan coach Lou Marinelli said. “I think we have to look at what we’re doing. We have great kids and to play like that, I don’t understand it.”

It was the Hogs that had it figured out in the second half, keeping the vaunted New Canaan attack off the board and holding Notre-Dame bound quarterback Drew Pyne to 164 yards and three turnovers.

Shirden added his second score in the third quarter from four yards out and Summers put the exclamation point on the route with a two-yard scamper in the fourth.

PLAYER OF THE GAME

Shirden, St. Joseph. The junior running back ended up being the difference in the game, running for 108 yards and two scores for the Hogs.

“I wanted to do my best to make my team win the game,” Shirden said. “I want to thank God, my line, my coaches, the best quarterback in the state and probably the best defense. I’m so happy right now.”

SELF-INFLICTED WOUNDS

Like a season ago, New Canaan’s biggest downfall came at the hands of New Canaan. The Rams turned the ball over four times, had problems getting the snap off all day in the rainy conditions and were penalized seven times for 87 yards.

“You’re talking to a guy that’s more surprised than anybody, because I thought we were ready,” Marinelli said. “I thought we were going to be competitive and we weren’t even competitive and we shot ourselves in the foot again. We as coaches have to look at ourselves and I particularly need to look at what we’re doing, because to put that on the field is embarrassing, and that’s not to take anything away from St. Joe’s, they brought it to us.”

There is not a team in this state prep or otherwise that can beat that St. Joe’s team THEY ARE LOADED!!! I like ALL the other people there could not believe how good they are and they will walk through everyone.Yes Darien fan’s you to.

203 SCC name one player on the team that lives more than 30 miles? 25? 20 from the school? Most are within 10 miles. We heard this childish crap every year. Tell us about East catholic, NW Catholic, Holly Cross, Immaculte, St Paul, ND Fairfield, Trinity and their great FB records. Anyone can say the same even for Darien, Ansonia, NC. SJ players are from the meto Bridgeport area and that is it so get over it. FP takes most of Fairfield county. Xavier and ND West-Haven get players from a larger area. No one is recruiting and I am sure the CIAC watches SJ close.

Maybe they should add one or two more D 1 kids.Can you say overated.Not taking nothing away from St .Joes defense but it is basically the same group Ansonia tore up this past December.NC gets shut out.

@Barry not sure your aware but SJ had very talented kids on defense last year, but they were all in new positions. Now they are still phenomenal athletes, who now have experience in those positions, and a championship. Stop making excuses please! Geez how many times do they have to upset these teams before you just say they are the real deal.

I am starting to feel the same. The media plays to them and their 38 yr coach. Interesting is MAX Preps seems to have it correct while the state voters are wrong again!! last year I believe they had SJ below 30. Go figure. I would take the SJ QB over the Notre Dame bound NC pick.

Joe’s is Big fast well coached and may just run the table. If they accomplish that only Greenwich or Shelton will have the chance to get number 1 over them.

I give Lou credit for what he said post game that it’s not the kids. He’s right. These kids aren’t at the level of past ones. Pyne isn’t Mike Collins, zack Allen and Lucas Niang and Alex Lapolice were great. No one at NC is close to that right now regardless if they are going D1. That’s not a knock on the kids it’s just fact.

They’ll get healthy now playing weaker teams. I still think they’ll beat Greenwich at home. Question is if they lose 1 of 2 remaining big ones do they get in 8-2 given rest of schedule is weak.

Gaels Fan watched this game on the live stream. Wow ! Where to start ?

St. Joe’s defense was on point today. The New Canaan lines were just way too porous and the Cadets were all over Pyne like a cheap polyester suit. He had little to no pass protection for far too many plays. The official list says three sacks, but the Cadets had him running hard all day to stay away. He could barely set his feet to throw and most of his passes came while he was on the run. As a result, his accuracy I’m sure was off from what it probably usually is.

I also honestly think some of the FCIAC teams have invested themselves so heavily into the passing game that the forget you can actually run the ball for yardage as well. Hell, I think Pyne may have accumulated more running yards today than any of his running backs ! And this goes for both teams here. In I believe the second quarter the Hogs had third down and one at roughly the Ram’s 40 yard line and they opted to throw a ten or fifteen yard pass over the middle where it was promptly intercepted by NC. What ??

And OMG ! Both FCIAC games I saw today ( also watched the Greenwich-Trumbull game on YouTube ) were massive penalty-fests. In the Greenwich game there were 31 penalties called with eight minutes in the game left to play. Twenty on Greenwich, and eleven on Trumbull. In one sequence Trumbull literally moved about 60 to 70 yards up the field on about four consecutive pass interference call against Greenwich. There were I believe no less than three or four unsportsmanlike conduct calls against the teams. I’m not sure if they were truly justified or whether the refs were overzealous but holy cow that’s undisciplined football if they were real. Is this normal for FCIAC games, or were these two games anomalies ?

Marinelli is making sense here in the article. To have so much raw talent and play as poorly as they did is not right. They need to look at things, analyze, maybe try a different approach, because If NC plays similarly against Darien and Greenwich they may miss out on the playoffs.

The good news for them is that their next three games should be wins and they will be the obvious favorite in all three games.

On point here.
This should dispel the importance of the Grip It and Rip It nonsense of the summer. How’s that trophy look now?
Della Vecchia’s decision to commit to the run was the difference in the game. NC offensive line under siege all afternoon and one has to wonder whether that’s a product of the emphasis on the spread. Tackles, guards and centers play football too and the Hogs, not Shirden, were the difference here.
Two things need to happen now. St. Joes’s needs to handle Darien at home in two weeks (the thought here is that they do) and Greenwich can’t go 13-0. That happens, SJ is #1.
All further 50-50 raffles at Dalling Field go toward 2018 Class M rings.

I respect Darien and they deserve it and until the fat lady sings at that game will i say they are number one unlike another from a different conference which year after year sang before the season began. NC may not make the playoffs this year it they have Darien, Greenwhich on the menue.

Everyone is overreacting to this one game.
Game one is usually the hardest game after a long off season.
New Canaan didn’t play like crap, they forced several turnovers and Joes didn’t have that many yards.
New Canaan shot themselves in the foot with trying to be cute and so many penalities.
I’m certain they’ll get things cleaned up.
Joes capitalized and never quit, they adjusted their game plan and it worked out. Had they kept throwing I’m positive the outcome would’ve not been in their favour of a much lower score.
Everyone mentioning the amount of division 1 players on New Canaan as if that has anything to do with it or makes those players any less.
Football is the ultimate team sport and Joe’s played better team ball
Not much better, against Greenwich, Darien or any too team with the same performance and the other team doesn’t shoot themselves in the foot Joes loses 8/10 times
Both teams will improve and have great seasons.
Let’s not get crazy over one game.

Gonna disagree with you. I don’t think you can overreact to a team with this much talent putting up a goose egg. And if they played 10 more times, St Joes wins em all. Last two NC losses, the coaches have looked totally clueless.

I cannot agree with you. I watched the game and SJ dominated in every aspect of the game to include cheerleaders. Never would had thought such dominance another team so touted. NC could had lost by 35 . Just was not sure about that pass stolen by the NC player after the ball moved beyond the end zone. Maybe it was the control and then the officials were in end zone so must give them the credit. Either way NC must now prove they can compete with a schedule of Greenwich and Darien and if the play Ridgefield. “Let’s not get crazy over one game”? Ok but some, not you, get all stirred up over a scrimmage?? Hey welcome to the new season and let us see how the next 3 games go.

That’s fine to disagree guys. That’s wonderful about this blog and you make good supporting points.
Some people do make huge deals about scrimmages.
My point about scrimmages has always been that they’re solid indicators and that’s how I feel about first game of the season, where teams haven’t played since last year.
We’ve seen teams upset teams, teams lose and then go on to have great seasons or really bad.
So, no, I will not go crazy over one game.
St. Joes got destroyed last year against Darien that one game took nothing away from the strong season they had last year.
New Canaan beat Darien (sure they were without a couple of players) but Darien always has depth and is a great program and football you coach your non starters for next man up mentality.
A one game reaction unless it’s for a spot in the playoffs or a post season game or doesn’t make much since to go crazy over.
There’s more evidence that proves my point than not.

New Canaan would still be #1 if they played 95% of Connecticut High School Football Teams today.That is why I believe Strength of Schedule and Quality wins should be a major factor in ranking teams in the polls.

what a joke , second year in a row the number one team loses the first game of the year . I don’t blame Marinelli I blame all of the ridiculous sports writers that believe the hype to vote them #1 , you should all be ashamed and as embarrassed as the almighty NC was today . Like I said what a joke !!

Coach D – for you new guys around here: pointing out your kid but throwing in the ol’ I’ll misspell the name in purpose to throw them off is the oldest trick in the book. Lol do better. Plus no reason to call out other players by name.

When can we start to talk about how over-hyped NC is — year after year. Last year, the team wouldn’t have even made the state’s without the Turkey Bowl “win*” versus Darien. Then, shortly after logged its state tourney loss.

I feel like the D-1 commits are blinding the sportswriters — especially the QB. (Avoid staring at the shiny objects!)

I’m confused why that’s important. Every private school gets kids from other towns. As a matter a fact public schools (west haven for example) get kids from other towns. They also don’t have 500-1000 kids to pick from like a double LL public school. It evens out. Any other private or public school can have the same results if they can recreate a school and athletic environment like SJ does. SJ is loaded with great juniors and seniors this year. Why are you surprised at their success? We’re you surprised the year Hillhouse won? No! They were loaded. Next year may be different, but you can bet SJ will respond as necessary. As for people naming players on the team out for their size, clearly size meant nothing in this game. This was a story of David and Goliath and we all know how that ends. Ball awareness, heart, and football IQ can beat a big boy any day.

Ansonia is always good. They just won 55 to 6 over WCA and this must qualify them as the number one team?. Anyhow justafan it is more about who they play on a constant level as well as toughness of schedule. No one in their right mind can say the Knights are not a good team but can challenge their durability and endurance to play in the SCC or FCIACor even SWC.

The St Joes game is in the past. We know the Rams players & coaches will work hard and will be ready for Friday’s game Vs. Danbury. If I were the other team I would not want to play us.
Let’s go Rams!!!

SJH is loaded and in everything. I am sure the criers will be out about they draw from the entire state which is false as the draw from a local area. So sad to those as they need to get with it. D and O are awesome and they are hungry. Luck is the score was not 35-0. Darien, Staples and Ridgefield are not going to bend over. Darien is a home game this year.

I just have to ask this question: Are there two less disciplined teams in the CIAC then Greenwich and New Canaan? If they keep taking penalties at the rate they did in their openers, they will struggle with quality opponents all season.

This shows us why Connecticut is under recruited. Do those NC players deserve there scholarships probably. But this shows us that there are plenty of other players here that should get them as well. Let’s think Kevon Jones starts at UConn true freshman and casagrande Dobbs or Lockwood didn’t get offers. They’d be starting at UConn right now. As of players right now there are 10 or more QBs that are better than pyne in CT. 10 or more linebackers in CT better then the kid going to rice and 10 linemen in CT better than the kids going to bc and michgan, stjoes showed you there’s yesterday. Now this loss is good for recruitment because it shows how much talent our state has to offer. If i were Randy edsall I would not leave the state for recruiting this year. Maybe a top 10 state for recruiting this year and this game proved it.

Tj ward Wilbur cross 2011 grad one of the fastest kids in the country all American at track ran track at Villanova. Played football. No speed? A kid from derby had the best long jump in the country last year a S school with 100 boys. NJ is 40-50 miles away? Didn’t Middletown beat a hudson catholic nj who plays DePaul catholic NJ pope john NJ St Peter’s NJ team last year then lose to NC in the quaters then NC got crushed by masuk then hand crushed masuk. Just off numbers from the score board hand would have beat DePaul catholic last year the #3 team in Jersey and top 50 in USA. St Joe’s would compete with DePaul catholic bergen Don Bosco Paramus catholic pope john St Peter’s all out of NJ right now with this team.

If St Joe’s is going to be good again next year they should consider playing a Paramus catholic or DePaul Catholic from New Jersey to see if our state is on par or better than those teams ranked in the top 50 high school teams in the counrty

Why should they? I have not seen those jersey teams come south to prove they are real either. the only teams I have seen step out to play the national power teams are Evangline Christian and John Curtis and bother from Louisiana. Sometimes they do well and other times not. SJ is ranked high by national standards and the highest ranking I ever saw was the 68 or 69 West Haven team. I think they were top 5 , maybe wrong but they were up there. SJ plays for Ct and need not play anywhere but Ct as any other Ct team. Interesting that when they do play out they must travel. makes a difference. Could even make a two score difference.

Was NC a little overrated because of their D-1 guys? Probably. But they are still a top 10 team (I think), and St Joe’s is legit (can’t wait for that Darien game). Tough draw in game one for the Rams. They’ll be fine this year once they clean up some of the penalties and get some more game experience under their belts.

I would say St Joe’s would beat an average team in the league DePaul and Paramus plays in. Heck Middletown did last year. Who’s to say they wouldn’t compete/ possibly beat a Paramus/depaul. After their win I wouldn’t be surprised. I’m not saying on a year DePaul is the best team in NJ but a year where they are not, DePaul might be in trouble

I think the better teams should really try going out of state and playing teams that are good, it certainly would be good for recruitment.

A really good hand team or a Darien team, the great masuk and xavier teams of old would have definitely competed against those schools. Rumor had it those xavier teams tried going and finding teams to play but no one wanted to risk a loss to a Connecticut school. I mean that 2007 Greenwich team did have a competitive game versus an excellent Naples team and there have certainly been better teams to come through this state since then.

Forgot to mention didn’t Byron Jones from New Britain set the NFL record broad jump a few years back at the combine. Not saying a state with 4 millolion people is better than tx NJ FL ca who have 20 8 and 12 15 million people not but top ten state maybe top 15 definitely

I’ll tell you what I also remember from 2007 is Daniel hand was very good, and ansonia was the best team in the state that year by farrrrr. Ask Geoff Shultz what he thought about playing Greenwich vs. that ansonia scrimage. Ansonia put up 56 points in one half on that roster.

Greenwich in 2008 also ventured out of state playing St Joseph of Montvale NJ.

They lost, went 8-3 on the season (losing to Darien and state champ New Canaan).

Albonizio the coach was criticized for that (as well as for allowing certain of his players back on the team after they did penance for off-the field nonsense) and it was the beginning of the end for him.

Having seen what Albonizio and Greenwich went through for daring to play quality teams outside of our little playpen, I think a coach would be crazy to schedule a game against a good team outside the state.

Connecticut is little league. It is entertaining, but we are never going to develop any high school teams that command respect beyond our borders.

Swc masuk Xavier and hand teams would have competed in the bergen league every year from 2009-2013. It not generational it’s every year. I comeneted on edsall not taking the top 3 players in the state in the winter and spring. He instead takes 2 kids on a 5-5 capital prep team. If I was the head coach I wouldn’t leave me state for players. Right now it ain’t working. CT has great talent and it is people like you that turn people away from recruiting here. You forget matekevich won the nagurski award santos 2cd in tackles behind him. Jones sets combine records. Look a why not comment. 2007 Greenwich was the 3rd best team in CT ansnoia 1 hand 2. Shelton should have beat Greenwich but we all know 28 point come back was great. Ansonia beat Shelton by 50 in the scrimmage. And hand beat them by 30 in regular season. Talents always been here

This is not meant to disparage CT football players but if you truly believe that the key to bringing the UCONN Huskies to college football prominence is by recruiting more CT football players you are out of your mind. I lived in and played in CT and now live in NC -not the hotbed of high school talent such as Florida, California, Texas, Pennsylvania, Georgia or Ohio. Our local NC high school league has more D1 recruits than the state of CT. This does not mean that CT does not have talented players it just has a shallower pool to pull from. Coach Edsall must recruit outside the state while recruiting inside the state and keeping talent is not easy. If you were a 3 or 4 star recruit would you pick UConn or Ohio State or Clemson of Auburn or Oklahoma or VA Tech or Stanford…etc?

@ Why not,You could be 100% correct but you do know the odds were not good for Ansonia either to go down to Naples and defeat that Naples team.SPB has a formula for Team A beating Team B and Team B beating Team C and team C beating Team A.That theory does not work in regular season play and I would venture scrimmage results are even less reliable.It is all about Matchups.It is very hard if not impossible to judge a team until they meet a team as good or better than they are.New Canaan vs St Joe’s for example.Ansonia did have 2 very good wins that year vs Seymour{Class SS Champions} and New London.I would have liked to see the 2 teams play each other to settle it on the field.If Greenwich filled that date with a 95 % Connecticut Teams they to would have been undefeated.

Your reality is water down when you add issues of a scrimmage as a talking point. Stop it as it means really not too much. I played my HS in Ct and college in Louisiana which has about the same population but if you wish to call over all talent then again stop. I am proud of my Ct background but will not let something untrue be said. My neighbor this year is a starting WR at TCU and a freshmen and was a top recruit. I have seen many from my small area the same and moved on to the pros doing well. Have you ever coached?? To even imply Ansonia which is a very good team will thus beat Hand by maybe 20 because it beats in a “scrimmage” that had 50 over Shelton is pure ignorance of the game and any coach will tell you this. Hey to use your points Newsome was rated top player ever in Ct history and yet did not make the top 200 players nationally. He was extremely talented and did a great job at a below par UConn team for whatever that is worth. UConn’s best years were when it had the Shelton QB who played pro for a number of years. I would say Louisiana or Mississippi each have more college players alone than all of New England. We as well have districts in Texas and Louisiana with more and nationally rated. I wear my Shelton and SJ shirts with pride down hear and enjoy the game there but get your feet back to Earth.

First, I was in attendance at game, and there were lots of missed tackles by both teams. Even the media highlights show some of the missed tackles. I understand this may be sensitive to have this pointed out about your son, nephew or whoever, but it is what it is.

Second, to address your question. I am Coach DeGenarro, a former head and also assistant coordinator at several of the bigger schools in Massachusetts.

By “undersized”, you mean you think they were smaller than NC ? If you actually watched the game, I’m not sure what you were on, but the Hogs are generally HUGE. Guys like Williams, Summers, Pasmeg, their combined weight is like 800lbs ! Speaking of Pasmeg, great looking kid, if he’s already 18, which he likely is, he seriously looks more like 28, lol.

Yankee exactly my point why would a 4 star from NCarolina play at UConn. Why waste you time trying to get that talent. Mark dantonio at Mstate built his team with in state guys and was in the CFB playoff a few years back. Why take the scraps of the south when you could take in state guys to turn the team around? If your winning 2 games a season you owe it to your state to at least give your in state kids a shot.alabama clemson Notre Dame michgan seem to agree with me.

Completely agree with CT_YANKEE_ IN_NC, I grew up in CT, played at SJ and now live in northern NJ. The top teams in CT could compete with the top PUBLIC school teams in NJ, there are also schools in the elite North Jersey Catholic School League who top teams in CT would compete with and potentially beat ie Delbarton, Pope John, Seton Hall Prep however the top tier programs in the NNJ Catholic School League are on a completely different playing field than the highest level programs in CT. Schools like Bosco, BC, SJR, PC, St. Peter’s and DePaul play and often beat the best programs across the country ie BC beat Grayson inGA opening weekend. Grayson was ranked in the top 5 nationally. As much as I would love to say my alma mater (SJ), Darien, Greenwich, NC, Hand etc would compete, it’s not realistic and would not be close.

In their last two games NC has been outscored 56-14 vs Masuk and St. Joes. Frankly the score could have (should have?) been 56-0. Masuk completely dominated NC until the last 5 minutes when they scored to meaningless TD’s, one on a Hail Mary, against the Masuk JV. St. Joes destroyed them. It was never a game and NC almost looked inept at times. I was at both games, had I not know NC’s history, I would have guessed that they were a lower tier football team.

NC has a few great PLAYERS. They are not a great TEAM. There is no continuity on the field, they look scattered and, with the exception of a few players, their body language is awful. No one is leading. It cannot all come from the coach. The leadership void on the field is obvious, even from the sidelines. And the penalties!! It is insane how many penalties that this team takes. There is NO discipline. Over and Over they hurt themselves with foolish penalties.

Because of the cupcake FCIAC schedule they may back into the playoffs…again, but they are not going anywhere…especially now that they are in the LL. If they do make it, and that is a BIG if, they will get hammered again by a quality TEAM.

I love your enthusiasm and optimism Why Not but you have to look at the teams Bosco lost to over the years, outside of the other north jersey catholic powerhouses, most of their remaining schedule is comprised of out of state teams who are the very best in their respective states. I would love to see SJ play and beat Bosco but thats a tough ask. Many of the best NNJ Catholic school teams are essentially tri state all star teams with kids from throughout the state of NJ, NY and some from CT and PA. Additionally I believe Greenwich played SJR (Montvale, NJ) once years ago in Greenwich and it didn’t go well. It’s not apples to apples. I would love to see the better CT programs play tough out of state competition against the better programs on Long Island, in Eastern Massachusetts (I believe West Haven use to play St. John’s Prep, Danvers, MA who is always a great program), some of the elite public schools in NJ like Wayne Hills and Middletown South as well as the lesser NNJ Catholic programs like Delbarton and Pope John.

Latxguy newsome was not the best player in the state that year but was the most product player on UConn roster he was undersized. In 2007 the back up tb of ansonia went to Yale to set records the original stater got aressted after the Shelton scrimmage I I believe was murdered 5 years ago or so. In 2008 hillhouse beat Hoboken almost a shut out then lost to Darien by 3 in the L final. Hillhouse beat Hoboken worse than St Peter’s prep and saint joesephs regional. Hoboken played for a state title lost by a point BTW. After seeing that To say Conn teams need to stay in borders is absurd. The only way to start putting Conn teams on the map is to play NY and NJ teams and show them the south shore of NE can play win and compete

CT already showed they are better than NJ public league hillhouse beating Hoboken 2008. Now to correct my statement hillhouse lost to Darien in MM semis in 2008 then new cannan beat Darien for the title. Chesire Glastonbury hamden masuk ledyard New London were better than hill house in 2008. Hill House beat Hoboken 24-7 stpeters beat Hoboken 21-7 St Joseph regiaonal beat Hoboken 24-7 went 11-1 lost to Don Bosco #1 in country. So to say CT didn’t 10 teams who could have competed or won in that premier catholic league that year is absurd and you absolutely wrong I’m dishing out facts that show CT football is legit and been ready to take that next step up

You sound foolish. Stop embarrassing yourself with your ignorant comments. CT football is a joke compared to NJ. Players like Casagrande, Dobbs & Lockwood are a dime a dozen in Jersey. Those kids would have a hard time starting at NJ Top 20 teams. Get out of your small town h.s bubble and stop your ridiculous postings. UCONN offered the best players CT had to offer last year and they landed the best LB in the state, Kevon Jones. Jones didn’t get half the media attention he deserved mainly because his team didn’t play in the “right” market and didn’t win a state championship. Also as far as the St Joes NC game goes. I was there and I can say both teams looked terrible so all the talk about St Joe’s going into Jersey repping the state is hilarious. For the QB’s that played both are very talented and if you ask me if you swapped them out put Pyne on Joe’s and Summers on NC the result would have been the same. Layoff Pyne, he and Summers have skillsets that maybe only one other QB in the state comes close to and that’s Muir.

Edsall – why don’t you look up the national rankings of the teams in MaxPreps for 2008? Or, for more recent data 2017?

They are the recognized authority on the matter. Their rankings for Ct usually come pretty close to what all the local experts declare at year end. So, maybe not accurate to the nth degree, but if teams are ranked within a couple of a hundred of each other, you have a case.

The only thing embarrassing is UConn’s two losses. Hand qb is better Shelton qb is better east harthord qb is better than pyne just to say a few. CT has already proved there as good as NJ read the facts dude you can’t deny them hillhouse beating Hoboken doesn’t lie. Was jones the best LB in the state? not enough media the CCC is a top 3 conference southington and Windsor every year? Alot of people say casagrande was better clearly he was the defensive player of the year. . Why not take them both when Jones is starting could have been one of the best tandems to come threw UConn. Second dobbs Lockwood and casagrande would all play at NJ schools 6’2 230 LB 5’11 210 RB 6’0 185 RB is good any where. Third what ever UConn is doing isn’t working moment s away from closing the UConn program. People like you and your thoughts are litterally why the program has plummeted into dispare. uconn can’t get fan turnout because what was considered the 3 best players in the state dont get offers but lower tier players from out of state will just cause there outta state makes them better LOL. Uconn won’t get a Levis going to Penn State because Penn State is a top 10 team. Or maybe because j.rose from southington big Ben size wears 90 instead of playing qb maybe a ditterent for recruits. Levis wasn’t the Gatorade player of the year. Gatorade player of the year hear didn’t go D1 so why not take him. 5’11 215 Lockwood whynot when the kid who was going to start this year before injury was a walk on from galstonbury….Tim boyle looks good in a Packers uniform but not in a UConn he left UConn……

In 2008 when house beat hoboken nj 24-6, Verona the 16th best team in the state of Jersey beat hoboken in a state finial 13-12.
Verona’s only loss was a 7 point loss to mountain lakes who was number 9 team in the state of nj. So just by numbers house would have took them both down.and just to let you know hillhouse finished at number 11th best team in the state, third in the division. 6’3″ 325lbs on the ol and dl is the same no matter what region you are from. I’d bet everthing thing I got says the number 1 team in the state of CT mops up the number 20 team in Jersey ten games out of ten.

So you sir I believe must be an Edsall fan boy. Either that or his kid.
When poor recruiting doesn’t work hire your son lol

3 offensive coordinators at UConn and they couldn’t figure out how to untilize that kind of talent shame on you. Quote of UKentuky announcer. Tim boyle could not start at UConn transfers. Sherrifs aint on an NFL roster……. but Packers like what they see in boyle.

I agree this UConn has missed out on a ton of talented kids during and after Edsal era..
You had Silas Redd start at Penn state and USC, Khari Fortt at Cal and another LB from that region as well.
There was Tyler Matakevich, RB CJ Holmes, Ervin Phillips, Harold Cooper, Will Levis, Tarik Black, Mike Collins, Isiah Wright, Ben Mason, Logan Marchi. The list goes on, kids that had D1 talent that went to other big schools and have done well.
Obviously kids want to go to bigger and better schools but Uconn has to do a better job at attracting home talent

Yeah I’ll give you that the kid from East Hartford is good and he’s probably a better runner than Pyne, Summers and Muir but he’s not close to the passer. Hand and Shelton’s QB’s not even close. As far as Hand’s goes it sounds like that kid will be shooting fish in a barrel every Friday night against the sisters of the poor of the SCC. And Kevon Jones was last year’s Courant’s Defensive Player of the Year over Casagrand.

Very impressive effort by #79 among others. Really enjoyed watching him get after it. The defensive effort and the running game sealed the deal for Joe’s. Novel approach, play great defense and run the ball. Who wudda thunk……

Next, I have no son or relative playing or coaching on any of the CT high school teams. I am a longtime coach from Mass. and now live in CT. and am involved in training athletes, especially football kids, for colleges.

Thank you! It’s one thing to critize refs and coaches and discuss the actual game itself, but for people to openly critize kids it’s absolutely disgusting. We have to remember at the end of the day it’s just a game, a game that coaches and kids put in hard work no matter the results of games and seasons.

I understand your policy, although I do not agree with it. A policy of only saying positive things is disingenuous. The truth is always right and proper. Likewise l am not surprised by your policy, especially in the present environment and culture we all live in today where young adults and especially their parents are so sensitive to any criticism, even if it is the truth.

I guess what you want is that everyone should just post that every player is an awesome tackler and is so great, rather than that the player missed a tackle or dropped a ball.

Coach D. I don’t care if you’re Bill Belichick. Let’s not call any kids out specifically. I got rid of the other comments you mentioned in your (deleted, because it re-hashed criticism which is a backdoor way) posts, and I don’t mind people letting us know if a comment has slipped past the moderators (there are over 100 here, so it’s bound to happen as much as we try to screen everything).

But if you’re going to nitpick, if you’re going to make my job more difficult just to make a screwy point, you’ll find none of yours get published.

Don’t like it? You can go up to all the guys personally and give them your critiques. I’m sure their coaches will love that.

Sean you’ve gotten a lot of flack throughout the years, but from being a long time reader and participant I know the majority appreciate the work that you do and time you put in.

For someone to have an issue with PC culture with regards to wanting to openelt criticise kids, he’s not worth your time.

There’s plenty to critique and make comment on without mentioning a high schooler, plenty of bloggers do it on a daily basis. These are kids at the end of the day, not professional adults that get payed to play the game they love.

To openly have a problem with no criticism of high school kids, shows the true problem.

In line with your policy of nondisparagement of players , please remove the Fast Freddy post where he calls all of the other lineman on the field during Saint Joseph/ New Canaan game other than Jernaine Williams as All Hype. This is offensive to these players.

Thank you Sean, this is why you are the writer and I was the coach. I was known for my bluntness and no nonsense when I coached and if a player shied away from a tackle or we saw something on film, we called out the player and worked with him to correct it or improve the effort. Despite the lopsided score against New Canaan, if you watch the film, there are instances of smaller Defensive players shying away from tackles.